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Texas House budget-writers voted Monday to free up an additional $3 billion for key state services through such moves as speeding up tax collections, delaying payments and suspending the back-to-school sales tax holiday.

The bills next go to the full House, which Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, predicted could be willing to add $4 billion to $5 billion to a bare-bones spending plan it passed earlier this month.

"I think that we can come up with that number, and I think we can still pass the bill. It's non-tax. It's not additional fees than what was already assumed in the introduced bill," he said.

The proposed two-year $164.5 billion House budget would cut 12.3 percent, or $23 billion, from current state and federal spending.

It would leave school districts short nearly $8 billion of money they would get under current funding formulas; cut Medicaid reimbursement rates so much that nursing home closures are threatened; and slash college student financial aid. Extra funds could be used to soften those cuts.

Senate budget-writers are working on a spending proposal that also would cut from current spending, but by substantially less than the version passed by the House.

Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said nearly two weeks ago that as the Senate plan then stood, it would spend $16 billion more in state and federal money than the House bill.

Senate budget-writers since have voted to add money in some areas, and Ogden said Monday he did not have a final tally. He said senators would fight for their version, which is expected to be voted on Thursday in committee and could head to the full Senate next week.

Rainy day fund questions

"That budget saves public education. It saves the nursing home industry in Texas. It takes care of Medicaid patients. The House budget does not," Ogden said. "We know how to balance this budget, so the debate is whether you want to save public education and whether you want to save nursing homes, or not. And I think we're right. And we're going to fight for it."

The cuts are contemplated because the state is facing a shortfall of $15 billion to $27 billion over two years.

In addition to scaling back spending in the next two years, the House has OK'd cuts this fiscal year and using $3.1 billion from the rainy day fund to help balance the current budget. Dipping further into the rainy day fund remains a question for senators, Senate leaders said, although Gov. Rick Perry has said he will not sign a budget that spends more from the $9.4 billion account.

Pitts said the budget being crafted in the Senate would be too expensive for the House. The extra revenue Pitts is talking about includes $832 million in recently freed federal education dollars.

Tax holiday debated

It also includes HB 3790, which includes a delay in state payments to school districts worth $1.8 billion. The delay would push the payment from August to September 2013, making it part of the next budget period since the fiscal year starts Sept. 1.

The bill approved in committee Monday would suspend the sales tax holiday in the next two-year budget period, and it would make unclaimed property revert more quickly to the state. Pitts said the sales-tax holiday suspension still is being discussed.

The panel also passed HB 3640, which would speed up the collection of franchise, sales, motor fuels and mixed-beverage taxes to bring in more than $1 billion.